An ethnographic case study was conducted over a 2-year period to assess stability and change in the photographic education program at a large West Coast university visual arts department. The study investigated the connections between the individual, interpersonal, and institutional development in an artistic community that made use of improvisation as a resource for their teaching and practice on a daily basis. The study observed the different time cycles of development and change in the transformation of an autonomous unit within a fine arts department once known for its excellence in manual black-and-white photography into a program that cultivated skill with automated processing of color images with digital imaging and which cultivated the exploration of boundaries beyond the physical isolation of the darkroom and studios of photography. Changes observed over 2 years include: shifts in the status of individuals from beginner to expert within the domain of black-and-white photography and digital imaging; the transformation of interpersonal interactions within a community of undergraduate, graduate, and faculty darkroom users as an automated system for color printing and off-site commercial film developing replaced their community darkroom; and students and faculty made their first attempts to incorporate digital imaging into their curriculum and practices in response to pressures and inquiries about new technologies within and outside the program, the department, and the university, attempting to shape the future and relevance of their program while trying to preserve coherence in their identities as artists and scholars. Three levels of improvisation in teaching and learning are discussed: individual, interpersonal, and institutional. (Contains 33 references.) (Author/SWC)